On Drainage

            The water began to spread up from the sump well in my laundry room. It overflowed quietly, serenely, inexorably. I tried to shovel it up with a snow shovel (surprisingly effective, by the way, if the flooding is finite) into buckets I carried up to throw into the raging storm beating against the Maine coast.

            Then I discovered water seeping through the walls in the library. This was not a simple overtaxing of my drains at the height of a storm. These waters would not recede.

Rising waters reflect ceiling light

            At one point, after all the books and papers stored on low shelves had been piled a foot above the floor on whatever there was they could be stacked on, after any critical  power strips had been raised to a safe height, after boxes had been removed from the basement entirely... at that point, I stood on the cellar steps, staring at the reflection of a ceiling light in the still clarity of an inch of water and I thought: "What have I done to bring this on? Why is this happening to me?" I railed at whatever powers that there may be: "I try to be a good person! I try to respect the earth and her waters! I don't deserve this!"

            And there we have it, children. I succumbed to that oh so human impulse to turn what was happening into a story about me. There  I stood on my cellar steps in the center of the universe, with all creation swirling around me, and I raged at fortune's cruelty to me.

            Now, as it happens, I did, in fact, have a part to play in this tale.

            Some years before, the drainage system had been fully explained to me; I knew where the overflow pipe drained. I also knew, in a vague sort of way, that roots could get into it. And as the years passed, I blithely forgot about the overflow pipe. Its outlet was buried unnoticed, and a young willow nearby grew to a grand height, its roots fed even in drought with the help of my drainage pipes.

Willow roots pulled from drain pipe

            None of which means there was some cosmic or divine gathering of energy in response to some action or inaction on behalf of or to the detriment of humankind or, more generally, the planet. Shit happens, especially when you're not paying attention.

            The damaged drain pipes are being dug up and replaced. This all happened as 2016 turned into 2017--a purely arbitrary division of time established for practical and ritual reasons almost 500 years ago for most of the Western world with adoption of the Gregorian calendar. It fell close on the winter solstice, which is governed by the movements of the earth and the sun, and existed long before humankind began to stalk across the planet.

            There are ever so many stories I can make up using these elements and more.  But it would be unwise in the extreme to forget that the facts are straightforward and not open to debate or interpretation.

            It seems to me that this basic rule is often ignored, and doing so is profoundly dangerous. Here are some facts, for instance, about the election: Hillary Clinton won 2.8 million plus votes more than did Donald Trump; if you add the votes cast for other presidential candidates, some 10.6 million more votes than Trump's roughly 63 million were cast for someone other than him. There is NO evidence that the vote tallies were fraudulent or that there was voter fraud.

            The president-elect has said that he has a mandate and is acting as if he has a mandate. He does not. Moreover, even those who voted for him do not necessarily agree with his policies (or what we know about them).

            So we need to pay attention. Trump voters need to hold him to account for his promises and let him know when he undertakes to act contrary to their interests, as in trying to roll back measures to slow climate change. Or, significantly, when he tries to further pit Americans against one another rather than encouraging unity. Trump opponents need to organize and focus in order to turn opposition into votes in 2018.

            As to this drainage project the president-elect has offered of the D.C. swamp? Just keep in mind that if we don't pay attention, there are thirsty roots liable to get into that drainage and not only stop the outflow, they might even flood the foundations!